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A Glossary of Internet Terms
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- (Advanced Digital Network) -- Usually refers to a
56Kbps leased-line.
See:
DSL
-
See: FTP
-
A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML
page. Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications in that
they are not allowed to access certain resources on the local
computer, such as files and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.),
and are prohibited from communicating with most other computers
across a network. The current rule is that an applet can only make
an Internet connection to the computer from which the applet was
sent.
See Also:
HTML ,
Java
- A tool (software) for finding files stored on
anonymous FTP sites. You need to know the exact file name or a
substring of it.
-
(Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) -- The precursor to the
Internet. Developed in the late 60’s and early 70’s by the US
Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking that
would survive a nuclear war.
See Also:
Internet
top:
- (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
-- This is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by
computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters,
numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of
which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through
1111111.
-
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major
pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a
small network will likely be much smaller than many
non-backbone lines in a large network.
See Also:
Network
- How much stuff you can send through a connection.
Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is
about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one
second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000
bits-per-second, depending on compression.
See Also:
Bps ,
Bit ,
T-1
-
In common usage the baud rate of a modem is how many bits
it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the number
of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value - for
example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but
it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second).
See Also: Bit ,
Modem
top:
- (Bulletin Board System) -- A computerized meeting and
announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload
and download files, and make announcements without the people being
connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands
(millions?) of BBS’s around the world, most are very small, running on a
single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are very large and the
line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets crossed at some
point, but it is not clearly drawn.
-
(BINary HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting non-text files
(non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet
e-mail can only handle ASCII.
See Also:
ASCII ,
MIME
,
UUENCODE
-
(Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in base-2, in other words,
either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data.
Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.
See Also:
Bandwidth ,
Bps ,
Byte ,
Kilobyte ,
Megabyte
-
(Because It’s Time NETwork (or Because It’s There NETwork)) -- A
network of educational sites separate from the Internet, but
e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet.
Listservs®, the most popular form of e-mail discussion
groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are usually mainframes
running the VMS operating system, and the network is probably the
only international network that is shrinking.
top:
-
(Bits-Per-Second) -- A measurement of how fast data is moved from
one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per
second.
See Also:
Bandwidth ,
Bit
-
A Client program (software) that is used to look at various
kinds of Internet resources.
See Also:
Client
,
URL ,
WWW ,
Netscape ,
Mosaic ,
Home Page
(or Homepage)
- (By The Way) -- A shorthand appended to a comment
written in an online forum.
See Also:
IMHO
- A set of Bits that represent a single character.
Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the
measurement is being made.
See Also: Bit
-
An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL
connections.
See Also:
Security Certificate ,
SSL
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-
(Common Gateway Interface) -- A set of rules that describe how a
Web Server communicates with another piece of software on
the same machine, and how the other piece of software (the “CGI
program”) talks to the web server. Any piece of software can be a
CGI program if it handles input and output according to the CGI
standard.
Usually a CGI program is a small program that takes data from a web
server and does something with it, like putting the content of a
form into an e-mail message, or turning the data into a database
query.
You can often see that a CGI program is being used by seeing “cgi-bin”
in a URL, but not always.
See Also:
cgi-bin ,
Web
-
The most common name of a directory on a web server in which CGI
programs are stored.
The “bin” part of “cgi-bin” is a shorthand version of “binary”,
because once upon a time, most programs were refered to as
“binaries”. In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin directories
are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries located
elsewhere on the same machine.
See Also:
CGI
-
A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a
Server software program on another computer, often across a
great distance. Each Client program is designed to work with
one or more specific kinds of Server programs, and each
Server requires a specific kind of Client. A Web
Browser is a specific kind of Client.
See Also:
Browser ,
Server
top:
-
Most often used to refer to having a server that belongs to
one person or group physically located on an Internet-connected
network that belongs to another person or group. Usually this
is done because the server owner wants their machine to be on a
high-speed Internet connection and/or they do not want the security
risks of having the server on thier own network.
See Also:
Internet ,
Server ,
Network
-
The most common meaning of “Cookie” on the Internet refers to a
piece of information sent by a Web Server to a Web Browser
that the Browser software is expected to save and to send back to
the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the
Server.
Depending on the type of Cookie used, and the Browser’s settings,
the Browser may accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save the
Cookie for either a short time or a long time.
Cookies might contain information such as login or registration
information, online “shopping cart” information, user preferences,
etc.
When a Server receives a request from a Browser that includes a
Cookie, the Server is able to use the information stored in the
Cookie. For example, the Server might customize what is sent back to
the user, or keep a log of particular user’s requests.
Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of
time and are usually saved in memory until the Browser software is
closed down, at which time they may be saved to disk if their
“expire time” has not been reached.
Cookies do not read your hard drive and send your
life story to the CIA, but they can be used to gather more
information about a user than would be possible without them.
See Also:
Browser ,
Server
top:
- Cyberpunk was originally a cultural sub-genre of
science fiction taking place in a not-so-distant, dystopian,
over-industrialized society. The term grew out of the work of William
Gibson and Bruce Sterling and has evolved into a cultural label
encompassing many different kinds of human, machine, and punk attitudes.
It includes clothing and lifestyle choices as well.
See Also:
Cyberspace
-
Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer
the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of
information resources available through computer networks.
- The digital version of literati, it is a reference to
a vague cloud of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise
in-the-know in regards to the digital revolution.
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-
(Digital Subscriber Line) -- A method for moving data over regular
phone lines. A DSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone
connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber’s premises are
the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. A DSL
circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations,
similar to a leased line.
A commonly discussed configuration of DSL allows downloads at speeds
of up to 1.544 megabits (not megabytes) per second,
and uploads at speeds of 128 kilobits per second. This arrangement
is called ADSL: “Asymmetric” Digital Subscriber Line.
Another common configuration is symmetrical: 384 Kilobits per second
in both directions.
In theory ADSL allows download speeds of up to 9 megabits per second
and upload speeds of up to 640 kilobits per second.
DSL is now a popular alternative to Leased Lines and ISDN,
being faster than ISDN and less costly than traditional Leased
Lines.
See Also:
bit ,
bps ,
ISDN ,
Leased Line
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-
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names
always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left
is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general.
A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given
Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain
names:
matisse.net
mail.matisse.net
workshop.matisse.net
can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to
no more than one machine.
Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the
same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (matisse.net
in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to
exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done
so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address
without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases,
some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the
listed Domain Name.
See Also:
IP Number
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-
(Electronic Mail) -- Messages, usually text, sent from one person to
another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a
large number of addresses (Mailing List).
See Also:
Listserv® ,
Maillist
-
A very common method of networking computers in a LAN.
Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be
used with almost any kind of computer.
See Also:
Bandwidth
, LAN
- (Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents
that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject.
There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as Pet Grooming and
Cryptography. FAQs are usually written by people who have tired of
answering the same question over and over.
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-
(Fiber Distributed Data Interface) -- A standard for transmitting
data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000
bits-per-second (10 times as fast as Ethernet, about twice as
fast as T-3).
See Also: Bandwidth ,
Ethernet
,
T-1
,
T-3
- An Internet software tool for locating people on
other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to
non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person
has an account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow
incoming Finger requests, but many do.
-
A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN
into two or more parts for security purposes.
See Also:
Network ,
LAN
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- Originally, flame meant to carry forth in a
passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate. Flames most often
involved the use of flowery language and flaming well was an art form.
More recently flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment
no matter how witless or crude.
See Also:
Flame War
- When an online discussion degenerates into a series
of personal attacks against the debators, rather than discussion of
their positions. A heated exchange.
See Also:
Flame
-
(File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common method of moving files
between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to
another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending
files. There are many Internet sites that have established publicly
accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP,
by logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites are
called anonymous ftp servers.
top:
- The technical meaning is a hardware or software
set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example
Prodigy has a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary
e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another, sloppier meaning of
gateway is to describe any mechanism for providing access to another
system, e.g. AOL might be called a gateway to the Internet.
-
(Graphic Interchange Format) -- A common format for image files,
especially suitable for images containing large areas of the same
color. GIF format files of simple images are often smaller than the
same file would be if stored in JPEG format, but GIF format
does not store photographic images as well as JPEG.
See Also:
JPEG
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-
1000 or 1024 Megabytes, depending on who is measuring.
See Also:
Byte ,
Megabyte
-
A widely successful method of making menus of material available
over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style
program, which requires that the user have a Gopher Client
program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a
couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by Hypertext, also
known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still thousands of
Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will
remain for a while.
See Also:
Client ,
Server ,
WWW ,
Hypertext
-
As used in reference to the World Wide Web, “hit” means a single
request from a web browser for a single item from a web
server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that
contains 3 graphics, 4 “hits” would occur at the server: 1 for the
HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.
“hits” are often used as a very rough measure of load on a server,
e.g. “Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per month.” Because
each “hit” can represent anything from a request for a tiny document
(or even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request
that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex
search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost
impossible to define.
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-
Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your
browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning
refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or
simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. “Check
out so-and-so’s new Home Page.”
Another sloppier use of the term refers to practically any web page
as a “homepage,” e.g. “That web site has 65 homepages and none of
them are interesting.”
See Also:
Browser ,
Web
-
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services
available to other computers on the network. It is quite
common to have one host machine provide several services, such as
WWW and USENET.
See Also:
Node
,
Network
top:
-
(HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding language used to create
Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML
looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround
a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear,
additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a
word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are
meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web Client Program,
such as Netscape or Mosaic.
See Also:
Client ,
Server
,
WWW
-
(HyperText Transfer Protocol) -- The protocol for moving
hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP
client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on
the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the
World Wide Web (WWW).
See Also:
Client ,
Server ,
WWW
- Generally, any text that contains links to other
documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a
reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.
top:
- (In My Humble Opinion) -- A shorthand appended to a
comment written in an online forum, IMHO indicates that the writer is
aware that they are expressing a debatable view, probably on a subject
already under discussion. One of may such shorthands in common use
online, especially in discussion forums.
See Also:
BTW
-
(Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected
networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the
ARPANET of the late 60’s and early 70’s. The Internet now
(July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast
global internet.
See Also:
internet
top:
-
(Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks
together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or
inter-state.
See Also:
Internet
,
Network
-
A private network inside a company or organization that uses
the same kinds of software that you would find on the public
Internet, but that is only for internal use.
As the Internet has become more popular many of the tools used on
the Internet are being used in private networks, for example, many
companies have web servers that are available only to employees.
Note that an Intranet may not actually be an
internet -- it may simply be a
network. See Also:
internet ,
Intranet ,
Network
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-
(Internet Protocol Number) -- Sometimes called a dotted quad. A
unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.
165.113.245.2
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a
machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the
Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names
that are easier for people to remember.
See Also:
Domain Name
,
Internet
,
TCP/IP
-
(Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge multi-user live chat
facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the
world which are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel
and anything that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all
others in the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for
multi-person conference calls.
top:
- (Integrated Services Digital Network) -- Basically a
way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly
becoming available to much of the USA and in most markets it is priced
very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can provide speeds
of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone lines. In
practice, most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000
bits-per-second.
- (Internet Service Provider) -- An institution that
provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money.
See Also: Internet
top:
-
Java is a network-oriented programming language invented by Sun
Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that
can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and
immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your
computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"),
Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and
other fancy tricks.
We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web
using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything
a regular computer program can do, and then include that Java
program in a Web page.
See Also:
Applet
top:
-
JavaScript is a programming language that is mostly used in web
pages, usually to add features that make the web page more
interactive. When JavaScript is included in an HTML file it
relies upon the browser to interpret the JavaScript. When JavaScript
is combined with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and later
versions of HTML (4.0 and later) the result is often called DHTML.
JavaScript was invented by Netscape and was
going to be called "LiveScript", but the name was changed to JavaScript
to cash in on the popularity of Java. JavaScript and Java are two
different programming languages.
See Also:
HTML,
Java
-
(Java Development Kit) -- A software development package from Sun
Microsystems that implements the basic set of tools needed to write,
test and debug Java applications and applets
See Also:
Applet ,
Java
top:
-
(Joint Photographic Experts Group) -- JPEG is most commonly
mentioned as a format for image files. JPEG format is preferred to
the GIF format for photographic images as opposed to line art
or simple logo art.
See Also:
GIF
- A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (2^10)
bytes.
See Also:
Byte ,
Bit
- (Local Area Network) -- A computer network limited to
the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.
See Also:
Ethernet
top:
- Refers to a phone line that is rented for exclusive
24-hour, 7 -days-a-week use from your location to another location. The
highest speed data connections require a leased line.
See Also:
T-1 ,
T-3,
DSL
-
The most common kind of maillist, "Listserv" is a registered
trademark of L-Soft international, Inc. Listservs originated on
BITNET but they are now common on the Internet.
See Also:
BITNET ,
E-mail ,
Maillist
top:
-
Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used to gain access to a
computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password).
Verb: The act of entering into a computer system, e.g. Login to
the WELL and then go to the GBN conference.
See Also: Password
-
(or Mailing List) A (usually automated) system that allows
people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message
is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist.
In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access
can participate in discussions together.
-
A million bytes. Actually, technically, 1024 kilobytes.
See Also:
Byte ,
Bit ,
Kilobyte
top:
-
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- The standard for
attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages.
Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted
word-processor documents, sound files, etc.
An email program is said to be MIME Compliant if it can both send
and receive files using the MIME standard.
When non-text files are sent using the MIME standard they are
converted (encoded) into text - although the resulting text is not
really readable.
Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the
type of file being sent (e.g. a Quicktime™ video file), and the
method that should be used to turn it back into its original form.
Besides email software, the MIME standard is also universally used
by Web Servers to identify the files they are sending to Web
Clients, in this way new file formats can be accommodated
simply by updating the Browsers’ list of pairs of MIME-Types and
appropriate software for handling each type.
See Also:
Browser ,
Client ,
Server ,
Binhex ,
UUENCODE
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-
Generally speaking, “to mirror” is to maintain an exact copy of
something. Probably the most common use of the term on the Internet
refers to “mirror sites” which are web sites, or FTP
sites that maintain exact copies of material originated at another
location, usually in order to provide more widespread access to the
resource.
Another common use of the term “mirror” refers to an arrangement
where information is written to more than one hard disk
simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the computer keeps on
working without losing anything.
See Also:
FTP ,
Web
- (MOdulator, DEModulator) -- A device that you connect
to your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to talk
to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for
computers what a telephone does for humans.
- (Mud, Object Oriented) -- One of several kinds of
multi-user role-playing environments, so far only text-based.
See Also:
MUD ,
MUSE
top:
-
The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh,
Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started
the popularity of the Web. The source-code to Mosaic has been
licensed by several companies and there are several other pieces of
software as good or better than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape.
See Also:
Browser ,
Client ,
WWW
- (Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) -- A (usually
text-based) multi-user simulation environment. Some are purely for fun
and flirting, others are used for serious software development, or
education purposes and all that lies in between. A significant feature
of most MUDs is that users can create things that stay after they leave
and which other users can interact with in their absence, thus allowing
a world to be built gradually and collectively.
See Also:
MOO ,
MUSE
top:
- (Multi-User Simulated Environment) -- One kind of MUD
- usually with little or no violence.
See Also:
MOO ,
MUD
-
The etiquette on the Internet.
See Also:
Internet
-
Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the
Internet, or someone who uses networked resources. The term
connotes civic responsibility and participation.
See Also:
Internet
top:
-
A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The Netscape (tm)
browser was originally based on the Mosaic program developed
at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
Netscape has grown in features rapidly and is widely recognized as
the best and most popular web browser. Netscape corporation also
produces web server software.
Netscape provided major improvements in speed and interface over
other browsers, and has also engendered debate by creating new
elements for the HTML language used by Web pages -- but the
Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported.
The main author of Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from
the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic
Communications and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications
Corporation.
See Also:
Browser ,
Mosaic ,
Server ,
WWW
top:
-
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can
share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more
networks together and you have an internet.
See Also:
internet ,
Intranet ,
-
The name for discussion groups on USENET.
See Also:
USENET
-
(Networked Information Centre) -- Generally, any office that handles
information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet
is the InterNIC, which is where new domain names are registered.
Another definition: NIC also refers to Network Interface Card which
plugs into a computer and
adapts the network interface to the appropriate standard. ISA, PCI,
and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs.
top:
-
(Network News Transport Protocol) -- The protocol used by client
and server software to carry USENET postings back and
forth over a TCP/IP network. If you are using any of
the more common software such as Netscape, Nuntius, Internet
Explorer, etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are
benefiting from an NNTP connection.
See Also:
Newsgroup ,
TCP/IP ,
USENET
-
Any single computer connected to a network.
See Also:
Network ,
Internet ,
Intranet
-
The method used to move data around on the Internet. In
packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine is broken up
into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and
where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different
sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed
to different routes by special machines along the way. This way many
people can use the same lines at the same time.
top:
-
A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords
contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such
as virtue7. A good password might be:
Hot$1-6
See Also:
Login
-
A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger
piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for the Netscape®
browser and web server. Adobe Photoshop® also uses
plug-ins.
The idea behind plug-in’s is that a small piece of software is
loaded into memory by the larger program, adding a new feature, and
that users need only install the few plug-ins that they need, out of
a much larger pool of possibilities. Plug-ins are usually created by
people other than the publishers of the software the plug-in works
with.
top:
- (Point of Presence, also Post Office Protocol) -- Two
commonly used meanings: Point of Presence and Post Office Protocol. A
Point of Presence usually means a city or location where a network can
be connected to, often with dial up phone lines. So if an Internet
company says they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that they
will soon have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a place where
leased lines can connect to their network. A second meaning, Post Office
Protocol refers to the way e-mail software such as Eudora gets mail from
a mail server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP, or shell account you almost
always get a POP account with it, and it is this POP account that you
tell your e-mail software to use to get your mail.
See Also:
SLIP ,
PPP
-
3 meanings. First and most generally, a place where information goes
into or out of a computer, or both. E.g. the serial port on a
personal computer is where a modem would be connected.
On the Internet port often refers to a number that is part of a
URL, appearing after a colon (:) right after the domain name.
Every service on an Internet server listens on a particular
port number on that server. Most services have standard port
numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services can
also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port number
must be specified in a URL when accessing the server, so you might
see a URL of the form:
gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/
shows a gopher server running on a non-standard port (the standard
gopher port is 70).
Finally, port also refers to translating a piece of software to
bring it from one type of computer system to another, e.g. to
translate a Windows program so that is will run on a Macintosh.
See Also:
Domain Name ,
Server ,
URL
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- Usually used as a marketing term to described a Web
site that is or is intended to be the first place people see when using
the Web. Typically a "Portal site" has a catalogue of web sites, a search
engine, or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other service to
entice people to use that site as their main "point of entry" (hence
"portal") to the Web.
-
A single message entered into a network communications system.
E.g. A single message posted to a newsgroup or message board.
See Also:
Newsgroup
-
(Point to Point Protocol) -- Most well known as a protocol that
allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a modem
to make TCP/IP connections and thus be really and truly on
the Internet.
See Also:
IP Number ,
Internet ,
SLIP ,
TCP/IP
- (Public Switched Telephone Network) -- The regular
old-fashioned telephone system.
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-
(Request For Comments) -- The name of the result and the process for
creating a standard on the Internet. New standards are
proposed and published on line, as a Request For Comments. The
Internet Engineering Task Force is a consensus-building body that
facilitates discussion, and eventually a new standard is
established, but the reference number/name for the standard retains
the acronym RFC, e.g. the official standard for e-mail is RFC
822.
-
A special-purpose computer (or software package) that handles the
connection between 2 or more networks. Routers spend all
their time looking at the destination addresses of the packets
passing through them and deciding which route to send them on.
See Also:
Network ,
Packet Switching
-
A chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used by
the SSL protocol to establish a secure connection.
Security Certificates contain information about who it belongs to,
who it was issued by, a unique serial number or other unique
identification, valid dates, and an encrypted “fingerprint” that can
be used to verify the contents of the certificate.
In order for an SSL connection to be created both sides must have a
valid Security Certificate.
See Also:
Certificate Authority ,
SSL
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-
A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of
service to client software running on other computers. The
term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW
server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g.Our
mail server is down today, that’s why e-mail isn’t getting out. A
single server machine could have several different server software
packages running on it, thus providing many different servers to
clients on the network.
See Also:
Client ,
Network
-
(Serial Line Internet Protocol) -- A standard for using a regular
telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a
computer as a real Internet site. SLIP is gradually being
replaced by PPP.
See Also:
Internet ,
PPP
- (Switched Multimegabit Data Service) -- A new
standard for very high-speed data transfer.
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-
(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) -- The main protocol used to send
electronic mail on the Internet.
SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a
program receiving mail should interact.
Almost all Internet email is sent and received by clients and
servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email
server on the Internet one would look for email server software that
supports SMTP.
See Also:
Client ,
Server
-
(Simple Network Management Protocol) -- A set of standards for
communication with devices connected to a TCP/IP network.
Examples of these devices include routers, hubs, and
switches.
A device is said to be “SNMP compatible” if it can be monitored
and/or controlled using SNMP messages. SNMP messages are known as
“PDU’s” - Protocol Data Units.
Devices that are SNMP compatible contain SNMP “agent” software to
receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages.
Software for managing devices via SNMP are available for every kind
of commonly used computer and are often bundled along with the
device they are designed to manage. Some SNMP software is designed
to handle a wide variety of devices.
See Also:
Network ,
Router
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-
An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET
or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast
medium (which it is not) by sending the same message to a large
number of people who didn’t ask for it. The term probably comes from
a famous Monty Python skit which featured the word spam repeated
over and over. The term may also have come from someone’s low
opinion of the food product with the same name, which is generally
perceived as a generic content-free waste of resources. (Spam is a
registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed meat
product.)
E.g. Mary spammed 50 USENET groups by posting the same message to
each.
See Also:
Maillist
,
USENET
- (Structured Query Language) -- A specialized
programming language for sending queries to databases. Most
industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be
addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version
of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all
SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL.
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-
(Secure Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed by Netscape
Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications
across the Internet.
SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web
browsers and web servers. URL’s that begin with
“https” indicate that an SSL connection will be used.
SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and
Message Integrity.
In an SSL connection each side of the connection must have a
Security Certificate, which each side’s software sends to the
other. Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from
both its own and the other side’s Certificate, ensuring that only
the intended recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can
be sure the data came from the place it claims to have come from,
and that the message has not been tampered with.
See Also:
Browser ,
Server ,
Security Certificate ,
URL
- (System Operator) -- Anyone responsible for the
physical operations of a computer system or network resource. A System
Administrator decides how often backups and maintenance should be
performed and the System Operator performs those tasks.
-
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at
1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a
T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds. That
is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for
which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 is the
fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the
Internet.
See Also:
Bandwidth ,
Bit ,
Byte ,
Ethernet
,
T-3
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-
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at
44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do
full-screen, full-motion video.
See Also: Bandwidth ,
Bit ,
Byte ,
Ethernet
,
T-1
-
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) -- This is the
suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally
designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is
now available for every major kind of computer operating system. To
be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP
software.
See Also:
IP Number ,
Internet ,
UNIX
-
The command and program used to login from one Internet
site to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the login:
prompt of another host.
-
1000 gigabytes.
See Also:
Byte ,
Kilobyte
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- A device that allows you to send commands to a
computer somewhere else. At a minimum, this usually means a keyboard and
a display screen and some simple circuitry. Usually you will use
terminal software in a personal computer - the software pretends to be
(emulates) a physical terminal and allows you to type commands to a
computer somewhere else.
-
A special purpose computer that has places to plug in many modems
on one side, and a connection to a LAN or host machine
on the other side. Thus the terminal server does the work of
answering the calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate
node. Most terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP
services if connected to the Internet.
See Also:
LAN ,
Modem ,
Host ,
Node ,
PPP ,
SLIP
-
(User Datagram Protocol) -- One of the protocols for data transfer
that is part of the TCP/IP suite of protocols. UDP is a
“stateless” protocol in that UDP makes no provision for
acknowledgement of packets received.
See Also:
TCP/IP
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-
A computer operating system (the basic software running on a
computer, underneath things like word processors and spreadsheets).
UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is
multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common
operating system for servers on the Internet.
-
(Uniform Resource Locator) -- The standard way to give the address
of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web
(WWW). A URL looks like this:
http://www.matisse.net/seminars.html
or telnet://well.sf.ca.us
or news:new.newusers.questions
etc.
The most common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser
program, such as Netscape, or Lynx.
See Also:
Browser ,
WWW
-
A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed among
hundreds of thousands of machines. Not all USENET machines are on
the Internet, maybe half. USENET is completely decentralized,
with over 10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups.
See Also:
Newsgroup
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-
(Unix to Unix Encoding) -- A method for converting files from
Binary to ASCII (text) so that they can be sent across
the Internet via e-mail.
See Also:
Binhex ,
MIME
-
(Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives)
-- Developed at the University of Nevada, Veronica is a constantly
updated database of the names of almost every menu item on thousands
of gopher servers. The Veronica database can be searched from
most major gopher menus.
See Also:
Gopher
-
(Virtual Private Network) -- Usually refers to a network in
which some of the parts are connected using the public Internet,
but the data sent across the Internet is encrypted, so the entire
network is "virtually" private.
A typical example would be a company network where
there are two offices in different cities. Using the Internet the two
offices mereg their networks into one network, but encrypt traffic that
uses the Internet link.
See Also:
Internet,
Network
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-
(Wide Area Information Servers) -- A commercial software package
that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then
making those indices searchable across networks such as the
Internet. A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search
results are ranked (scored) according to how relevant the hits are,
and that subsequent searches can find more stuff like that last
batch and thus refine the search process.
-
(Wide Area Network) -- Any internet or network that
covers an area larger than a single building or campus.
See Also:
Internet
,
Intranet ,
LAN ,
Network
-
See:
WWW
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-
(World Wide Web) -- Frequently used (incorrectly) when referring to
"The Internet", WWW has two major meanings - First, loosely used:
the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using
Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS and some other tools.
Second, the universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers)
which are the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc.
to be mixed together.
See Also:
Browser ,
FTP ,
Gopher ,
HTTP ,
Internet ,
Telnet
,
URL ,
WAIS
-
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